Thursday, 15 January 2009

MY LONDON MARATHON TRAINING MOVES UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL

I asked Adarian Barr of NEXT LEVEL ATHLETICS AND FITNESS to help me with my training program, Adarian looked through my training logs and told me I needed to start training in blocks of 4 weeks, 3 weeks of progressive work load followed by 1 week reduced work load. It should help me regenerate and be able to work harder in the next cycle.Adarian suggested a few more changes including doing a progression session of 2 mins increasing speed followed by 2 mins holding speed then increase speed again!! He told told me,"The two min on/off, is where you take two min to get up to set speedof 8 mph, then hold that for 2 min, stay at 8 mph for 2 min, then work up tosay 9 mph over the next two min and then hold it for two min"."The idea is to learn how to increase pace, recovery at pace then increase itagain. Most people tend to slow down to recover when all you need to do ishold pace. It takes the body about 2 minutes to meet energy demand"."As you get better you will find that you can get to a higher pace faster and hold it longer".I decided to do the session on the treadmill at the gym because it was very windy outside and it would be hard to control my speed!I warmed up then started at 12 kph and built up my speed over 2 mins to 13 kph, I then held the pace for 2 mins before once again increasing my speed. After about 20 mins I was hitting 17 kph when disaster stuck, the treadmill started malfunctioning and as the speed erratically went up and down between 15.6 and 17.5 kph the screen on the treadmill flashed' UNABLE TO MAINTAIN PACE'.....!WOW, I thought, I'd out run a treadmill and sent it into serious oxygen debt!I jumped off the machine and onto the next one, quickly getting back up to 17kph , but my rhythm and concentration had gone so I called it a day after 2 mins. hopefully without the interruption I would have reached 18 or 19k ! Anyway it will be interesting over the coming weeks seeing how I progress!Fri 16thEasy steady run with mad dog, 3.2 miles = 24 minsThur 15thEvening Treadmill, progression session = 22 minsPlus weight training.Afternoon, 10x 150m with wind, max speed 13.9 mph, plus acceleration run home, 9-10 then 11 mph. = 49 minsWed 14th Big sandhills easy = 2 h 3 mins